About The Author

Martin Longman is the web editor of the Washington Monthly.
He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. Before joining the Monthly, Martin was a county coordinator for ACORN/Project Vote and a political consultant. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.

Yes, he’s betting on pulling an inside straight. Could happen. That’s what got him elected. But chances are he’ll get slaughtered and take out a lot of his enablers too. I do think the Administration could make it a lot safer to go out if they invested a ton of money in expanding our ability to test for Covid-19 and trace contacts. But they’re deferring all of that to the states and the states don’t have anything close to the resources to make that happen. I think they’re putting their reelection hopes on a combination of hope that the scientific… Read more »

Unlikely given infection rates current in the Southern Hemisphere and at the equator, but also, November is not a warm month. Without herd immunity or a widely available vaccine, it would be part of second or third outbreak.

This is what happens when scientifically illiterate people are in public office. Those fools are looking at the declining virus case numbers and ignoring the measures that caused the decline. The scientifically literate Democratic governors by and large are saying the restrictions and stay at home orders are working to curb the spread of the virus, so they are staying in place. This is like day 5 of a 10 day antibiotic course, where the medication needs to be continued to keep a reinfection at bay. As that article noted, states he needs to win are several weeks away from… Read more »

I think people generally recognize that Trump did not cause the Covid-19 pandemic and many will forgive mistakes he made at the outset. […] But they’re going to be a lot more judgmental about everything he does from here on out. I don’t agree with this at all. He and his people are already desperately scrambling to re-write the history of the crucial first few weeks and months, and the press is starting to hammer him about it. Whoever is making Biden’s ads is doing a great job at hammering the point (even if Biden himself is doing the usual,… Read more »

I’ve thought for a long time that it would need to get worse before it got better. The only way this country has any future is if the Republican Party is sent to the wilderness for 20 years or so. I certainly agree that “re-opening” the economy without tests and distancing will be a disaster. Frankly it is going to come down to the Governors. Almost all of the people that I love and care about are in states that will probably will follow their health professionals guidance and advice. I have a few racing friends in the south and… Read more »

It does indeed seem that is what Trump and advisors have decided to do, or not do. It is a gamble. I think it is a poor bet but who really knows? If they are wrong, many more will die or become infected. Simply being infected is no fun for anyone who has read about it like how Brooke Baldwin suffered with it. Anyone who becomes infected with it, or knows someone who did or who had a loved one die, is going to reflect on Trumps leadership, notwithstanding the state of the stock market. And, as you noted, this… Read more »

He’s been wrong about the virus since day one, and made one bad decision after another. He’s still playing games with testing. Why would he suddenly be right about this? Because of his gut? Yeah, right.

We’ve seen this over and over, because it’s what makes these guys tick: In a dangerous situation, most people try to be as prudent as possible. But Trump and people like him do not have a sense of prudence. They prefer the high-risk scenario, because they very rarely suffer any consequences themselves and they don’t care about the consequences for others. Part of prudence is having a sense of just how high the risks are. They don’t have that sense. So they are completely out of their depth, because the virus doesn’t care what they think or what they want.… Read more »